Jean Zimmerman wrote The Women of the House: How A Colonial She-Merchant Built A Mansion, A Fortune, And A Dynasty and Harcourt, Inc. published the book in 2006. The anthology has 338 pages of the actual book and 402 including the prologue, afterword, notes, sources, and index. This nonfiction, hard-back paper book portrayed women’s roles both within and outside of the home starting in the late seventeenth century and ending in the early nineteenth century. The analysis begins with the lives of Margaret and her descendants’, followed by the influence businesswomen and their contributions had on the city of New Amsterdam, as well as the American Revolution in later years. The book begins with Margaret Hardenbroeck’s journey from Holland to …show more content…
In addition, Frederick started a political career by becoming the “alderman for the South Ward of Manhattan” in 1719 and then in 1731, he became a Supreme Court justice. Frederick II even served on the case between John Peter Zenger and Lewis Morris. Joanna’s role was to be a political wife; she planned parties and always wore a lavish, imported petticoat. Frederick and Joanna’s daughter Mary was a prominent socialite of the time, who had many admirers. However, Mary settled on the Colonial soldier, Roger Morris. Together they built their home, and she protected her family during the Revolutionary War, while Roger was in London, due to the fear that his loyalty to Great Britain might cause him to be a target of attacks carried out by the Sons of Liberty. Zimmerman’s purpose for writing The Women of the House was to change assumptions about women's roles during the colonial era; she describes the life and trials a forgotten, colonial woman had to endure to make a fortune. As well as those, her dynasty endured to continue her legacy. The book begins by describing early seventeenth-century Dutch trade among colonial New England settlers and the adjustments made throughout the years. The adjustments show how the Dutch successfully adapted to their new …show more content…
By presenting women with the opportunity to use their voice, they were able to advance the development of Colonial and Post-War America. Without the help of women during the American Revolution, soldiers would have lacked prepared food, repaired and washed clothing, medical care, relevant information, and in some cases, additional manpower. After the War, most women could only influence politics by encouraging their male relatives. However, in the mid-nineteenth century, women began to have an impact on antislavery ideology. This book allowed me to gain a new perspective on information I learned in class. The Women of the House is a straightforward book and easy to comprehend. Zimmerman organized the book chronologically by the life of Margaret, followed by those of Catherine, Joanna, and Mary. Along with the great storyline and the fascinating accounts of those women contained in the book, Zimmerman tells many accounts, allowing you to get a well-rounded view of the occurrences that took place within the
Chapter 16 of Exploring American Histories shows us the diversity among women’s roles. For example, women in a household were expected to cook meals, can fruits and vegetables, as well as wash and iron clothes. In relation to Exploring American Histories, we are taught in Zipf’s book that the institution of Samarcand Manor also helped women incorporate the duties they were expected to do in their households. Women who obeyed were simply treated better than those who did not. Women who showed outstanding abilities in their field were given the right to participate in leisure activities.
In the seventeenth century Chesapeake women had different roles than other colonial women. Chesapeake women were expected to work in the house, raise their kids and work with their husbands in the “tedious care of tobacco plants.” (page 13) Unlike in the English society, they lacked a sense of “housewifery” due to the fact that they had the lack of spinning wheels and churns. (page 13) Since mortality rate was so high it was excepted of not just men but especially women to marry multiply time.
Introduction The American Revolution was a very long and extensive war that lasted from 1775 until 1783, and as a result America gained its independence. It is very imperative to highlight the significant role that women played during the American Revolution. During this era a woman was often portrayed as illiterate, child-bearing mother, and a homemaker.
They had to obey every command, and never question it. Women were considered to have little intellect and were thought to be better served to stick with tradition roles. In fact women that read books were considered to have “lost their senses because they read them.” (Berkin.3). When their home was in trouble, women would not hesitate to pick up torches or axes to join the men as they marched to defend their neighbors against the British army.
“The pageantry days gone by-chivalrous cavaliers and belles in hoop skirts-lives in memory for many southerners” –Catherine Clinton, The Plantation Mistress, 1983 Catherine, Clinton. The Plantation Mistress: Woman’s World in the Old South. New York: Pantheon Books, c. 1983. Pp. 331.
Ervin Beisch Cheryl C. Smith’s, “Out of Her Place: Anne Hutchinson and the Dislocation of Power in New World Politics,” is an attempt to explain the plight of women and their suffrage during colonial times and especially during the puritan era. This article goes on to explain and describe the trials and tribulations of Anne Hutchinson for speaking out against the ministers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638 (Smith). The author wrote about how the male dominated society of the Massachusetts Bay Colony viewed the place of women in their Society. The author describes how Anne Hutchinson brought fear to the men and leadership the colony when she started teaching and voicing her opinion about the local ministers preaching about saving grace from good works instead of saving and redeeming grace from the holy spirit (Smith).
Becoming a mother monumentally changes one’s outlook on life, especially in the 19th century, when women were expected to give birth to and raise as many children as they could. Additionally, mothers in the 19th century were expected to push aside all their other silly hobbies to be the most successful mothers they could be. In Ruth Hall and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, both Ruth and Linda’s lives are drastically changed when they become mothers. Furthermore, both women must overcome obstacles thrown at them while caring for their children. Ruth and Linda, when faced with great adversity, prevailed to provide better lives for their children.
In A Midwife’s Tale, Martha Ballard is a Hallowell midwife who chronicled many stories in her life in her diaries, such as her records on helping other women to deliver birth, her social interaction with other women in town, and most importantly, the limitations she faced from her old age and her change of status within her family later on. From Martha’s perspective, those limitations were the result of the responsibilities she had to handle with her fatigued body and without the help of her family member. However, from the author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s view, those limitations reveal the inevitable cycle of change that will happen among the two generations within a family in New England. From Martha’s perspective, her family member’s lack
In a world full of war, women played key roles throughout the revolutionary movement. From one side of the spectrum lay more traditional roles such as nurses, cooks, and maids, and furthermore on the more unconventional side of the spectrum included spies and secret soldiers known as the daughters of liberty. These women were, at the time, not yet known to being the key to winning the war. One of the most common and influential roles of women was a nurse. Many of the wives, sisters, daughters, and mothers who eventually became nurses had trailed close behind their own soldiers looking for a way to provide for their families.
The next chapter highlights the gendered division of labor and the difficulty to keep a family as a slave. Chapter six and seven moves on to the eighteenth century and shows how women have improved in areas such as more political participation and increasing social class of
In the book Revolutionary Mothers, author Carol Berkin discusses women’s roles in the American Revolution. She separates out the chapters so that she can discuss the different experiences and roles of women during the period. She utilizes primary and secondary sources to talk about how women stepped into their husband’s shoes and maintained their livelihoods and how they furthered the war effort on both sides, as well as how classes and race effected each woman’s experience. Berkin’s main goal was for the reader to understand that although women’s roles aren’t traditionally discussed when talking about the American Revolution, nevertheless, they played a major part in it.
In colonial North America, the lives of women were distinct and described in the roles exhibited in their inscriptions. In this book, Good Wives the roles of woman were neither simple nor insignificant. Ulrich proves in her writing that these women did it all. They were considered housewives, deputy husbands, mistresses, consorts, mothers, friendly neighbors, and last but not least, heroines. These characteristics played an important role in defining what the reality of women’s lives consisted of.
The author Dorothy W. Hartman provide research of study done on the role of women in both urban middle class and of immigrant women. Hartman illustrate that both type women were tied to household duties and taking care of children. Hartman acknowledge that in the mid 1800’s, that “Cult of Domesticity” arose in society believed and stated that women’s role is simply to mothers and a wives. Women had little contact with others and little relief from everyday tasks other than household responsibilities. Under the subtitle labeled Keeping the Home, the author refers to an article written by Catherine Beecher that states “ a really good housekeeper is almost unhappy…
During the 1890’s until today, the roles of women and their rights have severely changed. They have been inferior, submissive, and trapped by their marriage. Women have slowly evolved into individuals that have rights and can represent “feminine individuality”. The fact that they be intended to be house-caring women has changed.
In Mary Wollstonecraft essay A Vindication of The Rights of Women shows her views on how she thinks women should be viewed and how society views women. She starts off by stating that women do not need guidance from men because they have the same equal power as men do, and that they need to be able to get an education so they can become independent thinkers. Mary then begins to state that wealthy people are lazy and wealthy women just pass their kids off to babysitter and play around counting their jewels, while the poor that can barely afford anything still have to pay taxes to help maintain their royal palace. She also downgrades on private and homeschooling and saids that kids would be better off attending public school because instead of